President Donald Trump’s political muscle is being put to the test once again in Georgia, where a pair of high-stakes Republican runoff elections on Tuesday will determine not only the GOP’s nominees, but also whether Trump’s endorsements still carry the decisive weight they’ve wielded across much of the MAGA era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the state’s closely watched Senate runoff, Trump jumped<\/a> into the race just 48 hours before voting ends, throwing his support behind Rep. Mike Collins over former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Mike Collins is a true Friend, Fighter, and WARRIOR, who has been with us from the very beginning, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be your next United States Senator,” Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The endorsement escalates an already intense proxy battle between Trump and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who backed Dooley and deployed his powerful political operation behind the former football coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The race will determine which Republican takes on Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff in one of the nation’s most competitive Senate contests. With Ossoff the only Democrat senator seeking reelection in a state Trump carried in 2024, Republicans view Georgia as one of their top pickup opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Collins, a trucking company owner and current congressman, finished first in last month’s primary with nearly 41% of the vote but fell short of the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Dooley captured roughly 30% and has presented himself as a political outsider who can appeal beyond the GOP base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Trump’s endorsement, Dooley responded diplomatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I have great respect for President Trump,” he wrote on X, adding that “the most important endorsement is that of the Georgia people.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Trump, meanwhile, contrasted the two candidates sharply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I don’t know Derek Dooley, and neither does anyone else, but he seems like a nice person,” the president wrote before praising Collins as a “very successful Businessman” who is “always fighting tirelessly for our America First Agenda.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The clash highlights the lingering tension between Trump and Kemp, whose relationship fractured after the governor certified Georgia’s 2020 election results despite Trump’s objections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the Senate race isn’t the only place Trump’s influence is being tested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial runoff, Trump has repeatedly endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, calling him “my good friend and your next Governor.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet Jones faces a formidable challenge from billionaire businessman Rick Jackson, who has poured more than $100 million of his own fortune into the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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